fill the waters...

filling the waters and the face of the firmament

​20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” 21So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day (Gen. 1:20-23).

The third day introduced life in the form of plants. This basic level of life (Hebr. 2416 chay, Gr 2222 zoe) includes every living thing, plant and animal.Here on the fifth day, a new level of life emerges. In addition to life, the vitality of all living things including plants, we now have the fish and birds, which possess the animal sentient principle (Hebr. 5315 nephesh, Gr. 5590psuche, from which we get our English root, psych). This is the breathing creature able to feel, perceive, and to experience subjectively.The sixth day will move us to creation of a higher life form, man, a rational being with an an immortal soul (Hebr. 7307 ruwach, Greek 4151 pneuma). Man receives the breath of God and rational intelligence, and is made alive.

Some have pointed out that the fourth day (sun and moon) is the filling of the first day, light and dark; the fifth day is the filling of the waters and the heaven with life, the fish and birds; the sixth day is the filling of the land with life, the animals, and mankind. This would be the way of Hebrew poetry, and the sequence of the days would become 1-4-2-5-3-6, a pattern more in line with the scientific theories on our beginnings.These verses do not fit the normal Hebrew parallelism, which is found in the same verse or in consecutive verses. For example, “We have no share in David, Nor do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse..." (2 Sam 20:1) is a form of poetic parallelism. Genesis as Hebrew poetry does not match exactly, but the idea is appealing. However, the birds of Day 5 need the land of Day 3, so it really does not work.If we had no Big Bang theory, would we try so hard to change the sequence or the meaning?

Prior to the end of the third day, there is no living form, no creative force. With the introduction of vegetation, the state of perpetual order of an inanimate universe is first challenged. This fifth day is the advent of living animals, higher forms of life with the ability to feel and to respond accordingly. Order is increased, and the possibility for disruption of order is increased. God is adding the possibility of disorder. This is only the possibility of disorder that He introduces. Wisdom has been instilled in all that exists in Creation, and all that exists is a unity. The complexity increases, but all is in order because every part knows its place and performs its function.

Sun worshipers, idol worshipers, and others who worshiped created objects, were an issue for much of human history. They misunderstood nature, not realizing that nature was not to be the object of worship but was to point us toward God, the one who deserves worship.Paul reminds us in Romans 1:20 - "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."Not so different from the earlier days when mankind worshiped the created instead of the Creator, we worship our idea of the creative processes - the Big Bang, evolution, and the science that describes these phenomena.​In Romans, Paul falls in line with far older figures, all the way back to Job (Job 12:7-10):7 “'But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you;And the birds of the air, and they will tell you;8Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you;And the fish of the sea will explain to you.9Who among all these does not knowThat the hand of the Lord has done this,10In whose hand is the life of every living thing,And the breath of all mankind?'"Creation points us to the Creator in a way that words never can. This may be even more true of the translated words of Scripture, subjected to the changes of language over time and the changed perspectives of translators in a distant future.

God is setting the stage for man to appear on earth, establishing all things that will be needed for human life, both for sustenance and for a purpose. All is in order. All is prepared.​So the evening (chaos) and the morning (order) were the fifth day (work in chaos).​ Next article